The Ghosts of Thumberdown Moor
by Storms-Are-My-Nature
Summary: What can I say? A sequel to 'Olivia's Birthday', where the CB team go off on a camping trip to Thumberdown Moor, a place where the ghosts are restless...
1. Chapter 1

The Ghosts of Thumberdown Moor

The Ghosts of Thumberdown Moor

A CHARLIE BONE FANFIC

**Disclaimer: Alas! I do not own Charlie Bone, never have and probably never will. **

**Plot: Ah, now that would be telling……but it's set AFTER my other fic (Olivia's Birthday) which is currently in progress. **

**Author's Note: This was written really late on a Tuesday night, and I don't think it's very good. But read anyway!**

Chapter One

Charlie was the last one to arrive outside Ingledew's Bookshop. His Uncle Paton (Newly married to Julia Ingledew) and all Charlie's friends were standing there in the twilit square, Uncle Paton impatiently jangling the car keys.

"Finally decided to join us, Charlie?" Fidelio asked light-heartedly.

"Sorry. I was waiting for Naren." Charlie replied, rather miserably.

"Where is she?" Emma wanted to know, her blonde head tipped prettily to one side.

"She couldn't come. Got the 'flu." Charlie kicked at the cobbles.

"That's a shame." Emma sympathised.

Gabriel remarked, rather inappropriately, "Poor her. I hate it when I'm ill. But at least you won't mmhmsma muhuh!" Gabriel's speech was muffled as Olivia clamped her hand over his mouth.

Just then Charlie noticed quiet Billy Raven standing off to one side, his white hair shining blue in the light of the moon just peeping out from behind the cathedral spire.

"Your new parents said you could come, then?" Charlie asked, surprised, for Billy's new parents (the le Coques) were very protective.

"As you can see." Billy replied curtly. Charlie frowned at his tone, but before he could say anything, his uncle interrupted.

"Can we actually get going?" he said, a little short-temperedly. It was clear that he'd rather be anywhere but ferrying a bunch of kids over to a wild moor in Devon.

Uncle Paton waved at the midnight-blue people carrier waiting in the shadow of the cathedral.

"Sorry." Charlie muttered as he clambered in after Lysander.

As the car bumped over the cobbles and into the night streets, Olivia suddenly sang out dramatically, "Off to Thumberdown Moor!" which made them all jump, then laugh as they realised it was just her being dramatic.

"We're not in an Enid Blyton adventure story, Liv!" Fidelio grinned.

**Chapter 2 is all ready and waiting, so you know what you have to do:**

**REVIEW!**

**P.S. I know I should be updating Olivia's Birthday, but this idea just came to me and I wanted to do it as just one fic is quite limiting. **


	2. Chapter 2

The Ghosts of Thumberdown Moor

A CHARLIE BONE FANFIC

**Disclaimer: Alas! I do not own Charlie Bone, never have and probably never will. **

**Plot: Ah, now that would be telling……but it's set AFTER my other fic (Olivia's Birthday) which is currently in progress. **

Chapter Two

The people carrier rattled along motorways for more than two hours. Inside, all was quiet, except for a slight squabble between Olivia and Tancred….

"I did _not _soak you on purpose!" Tancred said loudly. "So stop complaining!"

"Huh!" Olivia scowled, wringing out the hem of her skirt. "You did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!" Tancred's hair stood up on end and crackled violently. Squashed up on Olivia's other side, Emma glanced at him nervously, her blue eyes wide as her hair was whipped across her face.

"Did too!" Olivia shouted, ignoring all the warning signs.

"Look, quit arguing, you two!" Lysander said, clearly exasperated. "Olivia, we all got wet, and Tanc's said sorry. Tanc, just calm down, 'kay?"

Tancred's hair subsided, and everyone else in the car heaved huge sighs of relief, though Olivia still looked mutinous.

"We're nearly there now," Paton said placatingly, "and then you can set up the tents and have a rest."

"That'll be nice." Charlie said, satisfied. He settled back into his seat.

Fidelio frowned. "Then how come that sign there said 140 kilometres to Thumberdown?"

"Ah." Paton said guiltily. "We'll stop at a service station instead, then."

………………………………………………………………………………………

They purred to a halt in twenty minutes later, in front of a large service station.

Paton looked at his watch. "You can get out and stretch your legs now, children. But meet me back here in half an hour, and stay in pairs. Got that?"

"Yes." They all chorused dutifully. Olivia sent a filthy look in Tancred's direction as she scrambled out of the car. She grabbed Emma by the arm and marched her off up the steps and through the automatic sliding doors before anyone could say anything else.

The rest of them followed more slowly. Charlie was muttering under his breath to Fidelio, "I knew it was a bad idea to invite Liv, given what happened last time."

Fidelio looked awkward, tugging on his earlobe nervously as he glanced after the girls.

"It isn't her fault that travelling makes her bad-tempered," he commented half-heartedly, "and we couldn't have left her behind."

"S'pose…" Charlie replied, unconvinced.

Billy looked rather lost as Gabriel loped after Charlie and Fidelio, and was looking around himself nervously with ruby-red eyes. He seemed relieved when Lysander said kindly, "You can come along with us, Billy."

Billy blinked and smiled weakly, following the older boys into the service station.

………………………………………………………………………………………...

Thirty minutes later, everyone was back in the car and were out on the motorway again. Olivia and Emma had swapped seats, and now that she had no Tancred to argue with, Olivia went straight to sleep.

Tancred finally managed to cool down once that Olivia wasn't baiting him anymore, and started playing Doctor Who top-trumps with Emma and Lysander.

Charlie and Fidelio also fell asleep, and Gabriel was busy stopping gerbils from running all over the car, so Billy started to feel very bored.

He began to sing twinkle-twinkle under his breath, very quietly so that no-one would hear.

"_Twinkle, twinkle, little star,_

_How I wonder what you are_

_Up above the world so high,_

_Like a diamond in the sky,_

_Twinkle, twinkle little star,_

_How I wonder what you are." _

Tancred grinned as he showed Emma and Lysander his card. "The Doctor!" he declared proudly.

Emma stifled a giggle. "The Cult of Skaro!"

"No way!" Tancred's disbelief blew the remaining cards into the air.

"Loser!" Emma laughed, flaunting the offending card in his face.

"I give up!" declared Tancred, shoving the rest of his cards onto Lysander's lap. "Let's play something else."

"How abou-"

Emma's suggestion was cut off as Uncle Paton turned off the motorway and slammed on the brakes.

"Yea Gods!" Paton yelled. "What in the name of Christ happened to that car?"

"Took a bit of a bashing," Tancred observed unhelpfully.

The bonnet of the car was peeled off like a can of sardines, and the windscreen smashed. The whole body of the car was angrily blazing with hungry flames, and to top it all, the car was on its side.

"How, in the name of all that's good, did that happen?" Paton asked. No-one bothered replying.

Charlie fought with the door handle. "I can't – get it – open!" he panted.

"Why do you want to get out, anyway?" asked Emma, shakily.

"We've got to check that the people in the car are OK." Charlie said, still trying to open the door.

"Charlie – nobody could have survived that crash," said Tancred.

"Then ring, or something!" Charlie cried, "We can't just do nothing!"

"I'm on it, Charlie," Paton replied, flicking open his black mobile and dialling furiously. The phone emitted a long, dull beep, and Paton cursed violently. "NO reception!" he growled, shoving it back in his pocket. "There's not much we can do."

"But-"

"No buts, Charlie."

Tancred snorted. Everyone turned to look at him in astonishment. He flushed magenta.

"Sorry," he said, "but that just sounded so funny."

"Hm." Paton said, and started up the engine again. "We'd better get off, then."

The car rolled along, slowly now, and Emma bit her lip as the wrecked car went out of sight when they turned a corner.

For reasons unknown to them, that car would have huge significance in their adventure yet to come…….

**I'm sorry for not updating for so long but I've been on a school trip to Germany. It sucked. And I didn't get a chance to do any writing. So sorry again. **

**Yeah, I know, yet another squabble between Tanc and Liv. Apologies if you don't like 'em, but they're such fun to write!**

**Special thanks to all my reviewers: ShadowRose18, GoldenPeony (what happened to the bothering?), LightChaos101 and Meg. Thanks a lot, guys! **

**The next chapter…..erm…..I can't think of any spoilers……um…..so yeah, just look out for any updates. **

**REVIEW! REVIEW! (I'll update extra fast for each review I get!) REVIEW! REVIEW!**


	3. Chapter 3

The Ghosts of Thumberdown Moor

The Ghosts of Thumberdown Moor

A CHARLIE BONE FANFIC

**Disclaimer: Alas! I do not own Charlie Bone, never have and probably never will. **

**Plot: Ah, now that would be telling……but it's set AFTER my other fic (Olivia's Birthday) which is currently in progress. **

Chapter Three

The night drew on as the car continued through the countryside. By the time they drove into Thumberdown village, most of the children had fallen asleep again, with the exception of Emma, who was looking out at the undulating hills, with their patchwork of fields.

Suddenly, something caught her attention, and made her gasp in unconcealed surprise. For hidden in the shade of a tree was the unmistakeable grey shape of a beast.

To the casual onlooker, the beast would appear to be some sort of wolf, nothing special. But to Emma and her friends, they recognised the creature as something else:

Asa Pike, were-beast.

Emma's gasp had woken the previously snoring Tancred, and he was looking out of the window too, rubbing his bleary eyes.

"Did you see that?" Emma asked nervously.

"See what?"

"Asa was by that tree back there, I'm sure of it!" said Emma, leaning forward and shaking Charlie awake.

"Charlie! Asa was back there, I saw him!"

"You must have been imagining it, Em." Tancred said, still half-asleep. "Asa couldn't be out here, in the middle of nowhere."

"Yeah," Charlie chimed in. "He's back home with his parents, remember."

Emma felt annoyed. She knew what she had seen. "And do you know _where_ he lives? It could be here, for all we know."

"I don't think so," was all Charlie would say.

Emma turned to Tancred in exasperation. "I _know_ he was there!" she cried, forgetting to keep her voice down in her impatience.

Tancred put his finger to his lips, glancing around to check that the others hadn't woken at her outburst. Gabriel muttered something and shifted slightly, a black-and-white gerbil snoozing on his hair, and another three on his lap.

"It's dark, you could have seen a shadow," whispered Tancred.

"A grey shadow?"

"Well..." Tancred seemed at a loss for a moment, "Even if it _was_ him, he's far enough away from where we're camping to be a problem."

"And don't forget that he's on our side now, after we saved him from the Bloors," Charlie cut in.

Emma sighed. Why where they being so _thick_? "He's a changer, though, or he could have been blackmailed into doing it."

"Doing what?" asked Tancred.

She shrugged. "I don't know. Following us, or something."

Tancred looked slightly unnerved at the idea of somebody stalking them all the way from the city. He glanced out of the window at the barely visible thatched cottages they were passing, chewing his lip.

"I don't know, Em," he said finally. "I don't see how the Bloors could have found out where we were going. Only our parents know, and they wouldn't give us away to the Bloors."

"It could have slipped out. The Bloors have spies everywhere." Emma insisted.

"Like Billy," Charlie said, and stared at them in horror as the penny dropped. "Oh. He could have told them."

"Or his parents." Tancred added, his hair crackling ominously. "We don't know how much control the Bloors have over them."

Emma's heart felt like it had dropped into her stomach. "I don't want to think that Billy would betray us on purpose."

"Probably not on purpose," Charlie tried to comfort her. "They might have forced him to tell them."

"That's just as bad."

Tancred frowned. "Why would they want to do anything to us now?"

"Why do they ever?" Charlie replied darkly.

"Good point."

...

By Emma's watch, it was after midnight by the time the car turned onto an open, moonlit lane that wiggled across the dark moor. She strained her eyes to try and see any sign of a good camping spot, but unfortunately it was too dark to see much more than a few metres off the road.

A short while later, Paton turned off the road and bumped across the rough turf, jolting everyone but Olivia into wakefulness. How Olivia managed to carry on snoring, Emma would never know.

Everyone started talking at once…

"What's going on?"

"Why have we stopped?"

"Who died?"

"Are we there yet?"

Paton chuckled and said excitedly, "Here we are, kids! The Sat-Nav says that this is a camp-site."

"Who trusts Sat-Navs?" Tancred muttered, but all the same, he got out the car when everyone else did, albeit with some complaints when Olivia stood on his toe in her high-heeled shoes. No, scratch that, _a lot_ of very _vocal_ complaints.

...

From the shelter of a gorse bush, a skeletal grey beast watched the group set up the tents with hungry yellow eyes….

**So, how was it? Yes, I know, two updates in only a couple of days! I've just got this brilliant idea that I want to use, and this Fanfic is fun, although it was going to be an "on the side" fic. **

**I'll only update Olivia's Birthday if I get one more review for it. So tell all ya buddies, people! **

**Thankyou to my reviewers GoldenPeony (poor you being so busy & yes the trip did suck like mad) and ShadowRose18 (was it really that spooky?), thanks for all your compliments guys, and ****this chapter was dedicated to you two.**

**You know, reviews are really nice. They make me hyper. I like being hyper. **

**So…..**

**REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!**


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Me no own

**Disclaimer: Me no own. **

**AN: Please don't kill me for the shoddiness of this chapter. I am gradually teaching myself to sort out the time I spend on the computer and actually get some typing done – so the chapters won't be very long each time, but they should be more regular. But you might need to remind me. Sorry. **

The Ghosts of Thumberdown Moor: Chapter 4

"How on earth are you meant to set up these things?" Tancred wondered, stepping back from the pile of green canvas and throwing the hammer onto the springy, sun-bleached turf.

A gentle breeze tickled Emma's face, and she laughed, kneeling down and swiftly sorting out the mess of ropes, pegs and other camping equipment. Tancred watched her in surprise for a moment.

"I never knew you camped," he said, dusting down the knees of his jeans.

Emma shrugged. "This is my first time," she admitted. "But it's really just a matter of logic."

"S'pose..." Tancred was unconvinced.

Charlie wandered over, his hands in his pockets and a worried expression on his face.

"Have you seen the tin-opener?" he asked, skirting around the tangle of ropes and standing next to Tancred.

Both Tancred and Emma shook their heads.

"You haven't lost it, have you, Charlie?" Emma asked anxiously. "We won't be able to eat if you have."

Charlie looked uncomfortable and wouldn't meet her clear blue gaze. "Erm...no...not exactly...more misplaced it..."

Emma gave him a stern look and sighed.

"Well, I suppose I have rather..." he finally stammered sheepishly, examining his battered trainers as if they had suddenly become quite fascinating.

"I'll have another look for it first," Charlie said hastily, backing away quickly and nearly falling over the stranded ropes. He didn't much want the wrath of the other children upon his head if they found out that they would have to walk six miles before their next meal, to buy a new tin-opener from the small village of Thumberdown.

**Yes, I know, really short, but I'm rather busy at the moment with homework and the like...**

**So, I SHALL update again in a couple of days, if my dear mutter allows me, but I must leave it here for now. You may muse over the not-so-fascinating mystery of what the rest of the children's reactions will be upon finding out about their upcoming hike...**

**Please review – the more reviews I get, the faster I update and the longer the chapters shall be. It is in your hands, dear readers...**


	5. Chapter 5

The Ghosts of Thumberdown Moor

**The Ghosts of Thumberdown Moor**

A CHARLIE BONE FANFIC

**OK, you guys are probably all going to kill me for not updating for sooooooooooo long...I kinda kept on starting another chapter...then running out of computer time...but keeping it open on the desktop...only for my mother or sister to close it WITHOUT SAVING! when they want to do something...so yeah, I have my excuses. I heard a rather good one the other day: "I invented a time-machine that took me forward to see my future. I saw that I became a famous writer, so when I came back, I didn't think I needed to bother working or anything, as I knew that I was going to be famous anyway." –sighs- If only... **

**Disclaimer: No, unfortunately I **_**don't**_** own Charlie Bone, much to my disappointment. If I **_**did**_** I wouldn't have written the 7****th**** book in the way it **_**was**_** written.**

Chapter Five

"You WHAT?!" Gabriel yelped, clutching at his hair in horror. Charlie squirmed uncomfortably under the disbelieving and angry gaze of his friends.

"The hunger, the hunger..." moaned Tancred melodramatically, clutching his stomach in his imagined hunger. Olivia gave him a scathing look and said in haughty tones, "Tancred, there is a REASON you weren't put in Drama, you know!"

Tancred stopped moaning for a second and glared at her. "I am not acting, Liv, I am a poor boy dying of hunger!"

Fidelio was wide-eyed and whispering to himself, "No tin-opener, no food, no tin-opener, no food, no tin-opener..."

Lysander was staring at Charlie in shock. "Charlie, you do know this means that we have to-"

"Eat Gabriel's gerbils!" Tancred suggested.

Gabriel looked terrified and started scooping up his gerbils and stuffing them down his red woolly-jumper. **AN: Don't ask. It's just part of his 'oddness'.**

"No way are you eating my gerbils!" he declared. "You'll have to eat me first!"

"OK," Tancred shrugged. "D'you prefer to be baked, boiled, fried or toasted?"

"Tanc, stop fooling around," Emma ordered. She stood up and brushed herself down. "We're over-reacting, guys!"

"Over-reacting? Me?" Fidelio said in surprise. "I NEVER over-react."

"Look," Emma continued, ignoring Fidelio. "Let's just search the camp first before we start worrying about buying another."

Lysander shook himself awake. "That sounds like a good idea to me."

"And me," Olivia agreed.

"And me," Gabriel said, clearly relieved at not having to eat his gerbils. **AN: Not that he would have had to eat them **_**personally**_**, because Tancred would have already eaten him. But you get my meaning.**

Emma smiled at them all and clapped her hands. "So let's get looking!" she said.

Everyone scrambled to start searching. Charlie in particular was eager to let everyone see how hard he was looking, to try and make up for losing it in the first place. At least, he _thought_ that he had lost it...

_The beast slunk under the car, pressing its grey ribs to the dry earth and hiding in the shadows, waiting. _

_Its yellow eyes glowed as it watched for its opportunity. It soon came._

_Charlie stepped out of the car and promptly fell over a pile of ropes. A tin-opener fell out of his pocket and bounced into a clump of long grass, hiding it from view. Charlie didn't notice; for he was too busy picking himself up and apologising to an irate Olivia. _

_The beast's ears flatted as she screeched at him, "Can't you ever look where you're going, Charlie Bone? I had those ropes all coiled and ready, and now you just mucked them up!" _

_The beast growled softly under his breath. Charlie was on his knees, busily trying to re-coil them for Olivia. She pushed him aside with a sigh. _

_"No, I'll do it, don't worry." _

_Charlie shot her a sheepish grin and hurried off to help Gabriel get his gerbil cages out the back of the car. _

_The beast lay low, watching, listening...waiting. _

_Olivia finished putting up a tent and clomped off in her purple high-heels. The beast crawled forward a bit, poking its nose out of the shadows. The yellow eyes were fixed on the tin-opener in the grass. _

_Then Charlie walked past with a box full of squeaking gerbils. The beast's nose twitched as it scented the warm bodies of the rodents, and its mouth watered hungrily. It hadn't eaten for such a long time. _

_But it wasn't safe to grab the tin-opener; not yet, anyway. So the beast drew back into the shadows beneath the car again. _

_A deep voice boomed. "Kids, I'm going to have to leave you now. Have a good time and call me if _anything_ happens." He stressed the word anything and climbed into the car. The engine roared into life overhead and the beast started. It quickly looked around for somewhere to hide. A gorse bush a couple of metres away provided a good spot, although the beast would be risking being seen if he moved. But it was too late; the car was moving; it would have to do. _

_The beast fled across, hoping that none of the children would spot it, and grabbed the tin-opener with its jaws as it ran past. _

_It slipped under the branches of the gorse and curled up inside, the tin-opener stolen. _

_The beast would sleep now, one ear pricked for any sounds of the children coming to the bush. When night fell again, it would flee across the moor-land to its makeshift den, and give the tin-opener to its master. Its master would be pleased, and reward the beast with food; the beast was so hungry, its ribs showing stark beneath its ragged grey pelt. _

_The sabotage had only just begun. _

**OK, please tell me what you think! Too short? Too beast-y? Too confusing? Just right? **

**That little button – no, wait, that's what everybody does! Start again: It would be much appreciated – no, too posh...um...you know what to do! **

**Oh, I forgot to mention – this chapter is for all of you guys that bugged me endlessly to update and are so amazingly patient with my VERY bad updating regularity! See, DotCiki, I promised I'd get it done today, and here it is! **


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